• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.323-330
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• 2013

The ASHRAE Technical Committee for Tall Buildings, TC 9.12, has defined a tall building as one whose height is greater than 300 feet (91m). Since the publication of the HVAC Design Guide for Tall Commercial Buildings in 2004, there were only about 300 buildings taller than 200 meters; this number has risen to 600 in 2010 and the prediction 765 buildings taller than 200 meters in 2012. There has also been an introduction of two new classes of tall buildings: ${\bullet}$ Mega tall, which are buildings taller than 300 m, and ${\bullet}$ Super tall, which are buildings taller than 600 m. The effect of ambient air temperature over the height of buildings, especially Mega tall and Super tall buildings. The ambient climatic conditions vary with altitude and these changes in ambient conditions can seriously affect load calculations and performance of super and mega tall buildings. This paper presents revised calculations for stack effect for Tall, Mega Tall and Super tall Buildings.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.13-20
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• 2016

Today's architecture can be best understood only through the recognition of pluralism, and, as is true of other building types, multiple design directions are prevalent for tall buildings. This contemporary design trend has produced many complex-shaped tall buildings, such as twisted, tilted and tapered form towers. Among many different structural systems developed for tall buildings, the outrigger system, with its inherent structural efficiency and flexibility in façade design, is widely used for contemporary tall buildings. This paper studies structural performance of outrigger systems employed for complex-shaped tall buildings. Twisted, tilted and tapered tall buildings are designed with outrigger structures, and their structural performance is investigated. For the twisted outrigger study, the buildings are twisted up to 3 degrees per floor. In the tilted outrigger study, the angles of tilting range from 0 to 13 degrees. The impact of eccentricity is investigated for gravity as well as lateral loads in tilted towers. In the study of tapered outrigger structures, the angles of tapering range from 0 to 3 degrees. Parametric structural models are generated using appropriate computer programs for these studies, and the models are exported to structural engineering software for design and analyses.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.177-185
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• 2017

This research suggests the most effective way for improving energy efficiency in tall buildings is a "fabric-first" approach. This involves optimizing the performance of the building form and envelope as a first priority, with additional technologies a secondary consideration. The paper explores a specific fabric-first energy standard known as "Passivhaus". Buildings that meet this standard typically use 75% less heating and cooling. The results show tall buildings have an intrinsic advantage in achieving Passivhaus performance, as compared to low-rise buildings, due to their compact form, minimizing heat loss. This means high-rises can meet Passivhaus energy standards with double-glazing and moderate levels of insulation, as compared to other typologies where triple-glazing and super-insulation are commonplace. However, the author also suggests that designers need to develop strategies to minimize overheating in Passivhaus high-rises, and reduce the quantity of glazing typical in high-rise residential buildings, to improve their energy efficiency.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.117-123
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• 2012

This paper discusses major strengths of tall buildings that distinguish them as sustainable solutions for the built environment. It sheds light on some of the key attributes of tall buildings as well as materials and technologies that could boost their performance environmentally, economically and technically as well as the natural habitats containing them. Tall buildings are portrait as major successful options for accommodating the ever increasing urban world population, with little negative impact on ecologies and environmental habitats worldwide. The role of tall buildings as 'vertical garden sub-cities' mitigating modern city problems of 'urban heat islands' and sprawling cities is explored. A few building examples as well as city developments are presented which represent the new generation of sustainable tall buildings that are setting trends for future projects incorporating innovations in materials and building systems and designs.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.203-209
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• 2012

The purpose of this paper is to present the state of practice being used in the Philippines for the performance-based seismic design of reinforced concrete tall buildings. Initially, the overall methodology follows "An Alternative Procedure for Seismic Analysis and Design of Tall Buildings Located in the Los Angeles Region, 2008", which was developed by Los Angeles Tall Buildings Structural Design Council. After 2010, the design procedure follows "Tall Buildings Initiative, Guidelines for Performance-Based Seismic Design of Tall Buildings, 2010" developed by Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER). After the completion of preliminary design in accordance with code-based design procedures, the performance of the building is checked for serviceable behaviour for frequent earthquakes (50% probability of exceedance in 30 years, i.e,, with 43-year return period) and very low probability of collapse under extremely rare earthquakes (2% of probability of exceedance in 50 years, i.e., 2475-year return period). In the analysis, finite element models with various complexity and refinements are used in different types of analyses using, linear-static, multi-mode pushover, and nonlinear-dynamic analyses, as appropriate. Site-specific seismic input ground motions are used to check the level of performance under the potential hazard, which is likely to be experienced. Sample project conducted using performance-based seismic design procedures is also briefly presented.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.243-250
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• 2016

Today's architectural design trend based on the recognition of pluralism has led to multiple design directions for all building types including tall buildings. This contemporary design trend has produced many complex-shaped tall buildings, such as twisted, tilted, tapered and freeform towers. Among many different structural systems developed for tall buildings, the diagrid system, with its powerful structural rationale and distinguished aesthetic potential, is one of the most widely used systems for today's tall buildings. This paper studies structural performance of diagrid systems employed for complex-shaped tall buildings. Twisted, tilted, tapered and freeform tall buildings are designed with diagrid structures, and their structural performances are investigated. For the twisted diagrid study, the buildings are twisted up to 3 degrees per floor. In the tilted diagrid study, the angles of tilting range from 0 to 13 degrees. The impact of eccentricity is investigated for gravity as well as lateral loads in tilted towers. In the study of tapered diagrid structures, the angles of tapering range from 0 to 3 degrees. In the study of freeform diagrid structures, lateral stiffness of freeform diagrids is evaluated depending on the degree of fluctuation of free form. The freeform floor plans fluctuate from plus/minus 1.5 meter to plus/minus 4.5 meter boundaries of the original square floor plan. Parametric structural models are generated using appropriate computer programs and the models are exported to structural engineering software for design, analyses and comparative studies.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.87-93
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• 2020

Professionals who work in the realm of tall building design and construction are well aware that high-rises are the best solution for accommodating growing urban populations. Until recently, few would have thought to include tall wood buildings as part of that solution, but there is growing awareness that tall mass timber structures can help satisfy the need for density while addressing the need-equally urgent-for a more sustainable built environment. This paper examines the trend toward tall wood buildings in the United States, including their history and international influences, market drivers, structural performance, and economic viability, as well as building code changes that allow wood structures up to 18 stories. It highlights examples of mass timber projects, with an emphasis on benefits that impact return on investment.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.245-253
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• 2020

With the ever-increasing height of timber buildings, the complexity of timber as a structural material gives rise to behaviors not previously studied by engineers. An urgent call is needed regarding their performance in damage scenarios: activating alternative load paths in tall timber buildings is not the same as in tall buildings made with steel and concrete. In this paper we propose a robustness framework covering all building materials, whose application in timber may lead to new conceptual designs for the next generation of tall timber buildings. Qualitatively, the importance of building scale and the distinction between localized and systematic exposures are discussed, and how existing supertall structures can be an example for future generations of tall timber buildings. Quantitatively, the robustness index is introduced alongside a method to calculate the performance of a given building regarding robustness, in order to find the most cost-effective structural solutions for improved robustness. A three-level application recommendation is made, depending on the importance of the building in question. Primarily, the paper highlights the importance of conceptual design to achieve structural robustness and encourages the practicing engineering community to use the proposed framework to quantitatively come up with the new generation of tall timber buildings.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.63-77
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• 2013

In any subject area related to the provision of safety, failure is typically the most effective mechanism for evoking rapid reform and an introspective assessment of the accepted operating methods and standards within a professional body. In the realm of tall buildings the most notable failures in history, those of the WTC towers, widely accepted as fire induced failures, have not to any significant extent affected the way they are designed with respect to fire safety. This is clearly reflected in the surge in numbers of Tall Buildings being constructed since 2001. The combination of the magnitude and time-scale of the WTC investigation coupled with the absence of meaningful guidance resulting from it strongly hints at the outdatedness of current fire engineering practice as a discipline in the context of such advanced infrastructure. This is further reflected in the continual shift from prescriptive to performance based design in many parts of the world demonstrating an ever growing acceptance that these buildings are beyond the realm of applicability of prescriptive guidance. In order for true performance based engineering to occur however, specific performance goals need to be established for these structures. This work seeks to highlight the critical elements of a fire safety strategy for tall buildings and thus attempt to highlight some specific global performance objectives. A survey of tall building fire investigations is conducted in order to assess the effectiveness of current designs in meeting these objectives, and the current state-of-the-art of fire safety design guidance for tall structures is also analysed on these terms. The correct definition of the design fire for open plan compartments is identified as the critical knowledge gap that must be addressed in order to achieve tall building performance objectives and to provide truly innovative, robust fire safety for these unique structures.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.123-135
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• 2021

Solid Viscoelastic Coupling Dampers (VCDs) provide distributed damping that improves the dynamic performance of tall buildings for both wind-storms and earthquakes for all amplitudes of vibration. They are configured in place of typical structural members in tall buildings and therefore do not occupy any architectural space. This paper summarizes the research and development at the University of Toronto in collaboration with Nippon Steel Engineering, 3M and Kinetica over the past two decades. In addition, impact studies on buildings incorporating the VCDs are presented, consisting of a wind sensitive 66-story building in Toronto, a dual-wind and seismic performance-based design of a 4-tower development in Manila and finally a 630 meter Megatall building in Southeast Asia in a severe seismic environment. In all applications the VCDs are shown to provide significant benefits in the dynamic performance under both wind and earthquake loading in a cost-effective manner.